GabriellaSofia's 2012 Holy Grail of Beauty... Part 3

Fancy seeing you here! Back for Part 3 of my 2012 Holy Grain of Beauty? Well, welcome! I've really enjoyed choosing my favourite products for these awards but I'm even more excited about the products which I am hoping to but in 2013. Its great being able to write my Must Buy list on my blog so I can't forget what I am saving up for. Anyway, let's see what other products are on my 'Re-Purchase For 2013' list...

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Eye Liner...

In First Place... I am actually really disappointed with 2012 in terms of eye liner. I have tried many and thought they were fine, but not a single product has really stood out to me this year. Even my beloved Fabuliner felt-tip liner by INCOLOUR in the USA didn't cut the mustard this year as it has been fading and transferring to my upper-lid. Other products which haven't set my loins alight include Maybelline's Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Liner, Benefit's BadGAL, Soap and Glory's Smoulder Kohl and Barry M's Liquid Liner. Disappointing.
Must Buy In 2013... I just need a good eye-liner that won't transfer to my upper-lid or melt in the outer corners of my eyes. Any suggestions?

GabriellaSofia's 2012 Holy Grail of Beauty... Part 1

Happy New Year everyone! I'm hoping you all celebrated with your friends and family and are super-excited about 2013, because I sure am. I don't quite know why... I just have a FEELING about this year.

Anyway, I wanted to do a post like this last year, but never got round to it, so here it is, my Beauty Holy Grail for 2012! In some categories I've also listed items which fell into my Bad Books in 2012 and some beauty products which I'm looking forward to in 2013. So sit back, relax, and let the good times roll.

Beauty Tutorial: Halloween Dead Geisha Look

This is my dead geisha look. People love to look dead on Halloween. Others love to look provocative. So I figured I'd combine the two in this sophisticated look! All of these products were purchased with my own money and I haven't been paid to endorse them;

Maybelline Superstay 24 hr Concealer in Light Beige - £6.19 at www.boots.com

InColor FabuLiner Liquid Eye Liner in Brown - $1.99 at Walgreens

Collection 2000 Pressed Powder in Ivory - £1.99 at Superdrug

M&S Talcum Powder - £1 at Marks and Spencer

Urban Decay Primer Potion - £18 at Debenhams

Fluff Brush - £5.99 at Ecotools at www.boots.com

MAC Frankly Scarlett Blush - £17.00 at MAC

InColour Fabuliner Liquide Eye Liner in Black - $1.99 at Walgreens

Sally Hansen Lash Curlers - $5.99 at Walgreens

Benefit BadGal Lash Mascara in Black - £16.50 at www.boots.com

RED LIPSTICK OLD

Ecotools Lipstick brush – Bought in a set of mini brushes for £4.99 at www.boots.com

Benefit Hoola Bronzer - £23.50 at www.boots.com

EcoTools Bamboo Contour Brush - £9.99 at www.boots.com

Ecotools Blush Brush - £7.99 at www.boots.com

MUA Eye Shadow in Shade 23 Pearl - £1 at

SuperdrugFake Blood - £2.50 at my local fancy dress shop

Hope you liked it! One more Halloween Beauty Tutorial yet to come... If you have any requests then please let me know :)

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Keep track of my YouTube Channel where I post new tutorials, hauls and tags all the time! You can find it at:http://www.youtube.com/HauteFuture

Also check out my facebook page at:http://www.facebook.com/pages/HauteFuture/149057205180776

Please rate, comment and subscribe and I promise there will be loads of beauty, fashion, lifestyle, culture and gossip material going up on here each week :)

Thanks for watching, beauties.

Love

gabriellasofia

x

Review - Lip Tint Comparisons... Max Factor/Maybelline/Revlon

So following my initial disappointment in Max Factor's Lasting Lip Tint back in May (the review for which can be found at http://hautefuture.blogspot.com/2011/05/review-max-factors-lipfinity-lasting.html), I was determined not to let my desire to find the perfect felt-tip pen style lip stain go unfulfilled. Despite the fact that I was very disillusioned by this first go at the idea, I was still hopeful, and why shouldn't I be? It's a great concept... a non-transferable lip product with an applicator which allows for almost perfect precision... what more could any girl ask for? And so my mini-quest began. I tried the Max Factor one for a little while longer and my mind actually was ever-so-slightly altered as I realized that perhaps I'd been a little too hard on the product. Yet I still purchased the Revlon and Maybelline equivalents just to be sure
that I was using the best on the drug-store market... here's my story...

Max Factor's Lipfinity Lasting Lip Tint in Berry Burst £7.99 at www.boots.com

So when I tried the product the first time, as the blog linked above suggests, I was really unimpressed. The color wasn't very strong, it didn't last very long, the brush molted (for lack of a better word) felt-y spots

of pink material all over my lips, my lips were dry and the color actually bled quite a lot before drying permanently. But then I gave it a few more tries just to give Max Factor a chance and the Lip Tint actually grew on me. I liked the sweet but subtle taste, the color was actually quite alluring and provided I didn't lick my lips a lot or eat the color stayed put. I didn't think much of the pen tip after I'd tried the other products as the felt used was obviously not very good quality and it allowed the product to dry out really easily, meaning that nowhere near enough of the product could be applied. Basically it still left much to be desired... Scorecard time!

Staying Power - 6/10

Flavor - 8/10

Color - 6/10

Softness of lips - 2/10

Applicator - 6/10

Product dispersal - 5/10

Packaging - 8/10

Value for money - 3/10

TOTAL 44/80

Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain and Balm in Gothic £7.99 at www.boots.com

This product gave me a good feeling, particularly as part of the problem with the Max Factor version was the dryness in my lips afterwards... when I used Lasting Lip Tint I actually had to purchase a new tube of Carmex (£2.69 at www.boots.com) because my lips were so raw. My initial optimism for this product was not unfounded...

I love Just Bitten. The felt tip is really thick and soft, meaning that when you apply the product it glides on smoothly. The formula is nice and thin upon first touch which is exactly what I want as it allowed my lips to get an even coating before it set dry (but not too dry!) on my lips, plus, somehow, despite this fluid consistency, it didn't bleed past the lip-line I'd outlined with the pen before complete application. The color was

really vibrant and didn't need a second application, suggesting that you get more out of your money and the product will last longer in my make-up bag, RESULT!

It's almost unfair to judge the lip balm at the other end of the pen, as the other two tints don't have one, but you know what, shame on them! They really should have a balm, and I am eternally grateful to Revlon for attaching one. In fairness, it's not the best lip-balm I've ever used, and yet it does the job. Keeps your lips moist enough to allow the product to feel comfortable on your mouth. On the other hand, using the balm does mean that the product is no longer non-transferable, although perhaps that is just in my experience, as I saw a faintly colored lip-balm stain on my wine glass during dinner. Then again, this is a sacrifice I'm prepared to make as the look and feel of this product is worth putting up with that minor inconvenience! Only thing I noticed lacking was a scent or flavor... I'm not particularly fussed about that though!

Staying Power - 8/10 without the balm 7/10 with the balm (it still gets 7 as it was only really the balm that came off and not so much the actual color, which is totally acceptable in my book!)

Flavor - 5/10 (no flavor at all... inoffensive, so I don't mind.)

Color - 10/10

Softness of lips - 9/10

Applicator - 9/10

Product dispersal - 10/10

Packaging - 8/10

Value for money - 9/10

TOTAL -68 and a half/80

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstain in Shy Red costing £5.99 at www.boots.com

I was pretty impressed with this product as I found it better than Max Factor's Lip Tint even though it was £2 cheaper. Although it still didn't quite beat Revlon's Just Bitten...

Whilst the consistency of the formula was similar to Just Bitten, thin, easy to apply and non-transferable once dry, it actually didn't give as much color as I would have liked. Having said that, the flavor and scent of

the formula was really pleasant. Plus, the tip of the pen was really good at lining my lips as the point of it was particularly sharp so it was easy for me to sketch and extend my natural lip-line a little further out, making for a plumper lip-look.

One thing I absolutely did not like about this product (and I know I'm just being a product snob here...) is that the packaging looks super tacky. I don't even like the name. I'm sure I can get over it though, I mean the price is right and the product is an excellent base to any lipstick meaning that even when you're lippy fades, or rubs off, your lips still look a healthy rosy color. Epic success. Let's get down to business...

Staying Power - 8/10

Flavor - 10/10

Color - 7/10

Softness of lips - 7/10

Applicator - 7/10

Product dispersal - 7/10

Packaging - 2/10

Value for money - 8/10

TOTAL - 56/10

Conclusion...

So there is a clear winner! Revlon actually did the best this time. I practically have nothing to complain about their product apart from that a sweet flavor would be a welcome feature. In terms of good value for money, it's fantastic, because you get a long-lasting lip stain AND a smooth moisturizing lip balm for just £7.99. On another point, you really can't go too far wrong with the Maybelline option as whilst it isn't perfect, it is priced fairly and generally is a satisfactory product.

Anyway, let me know what your experienced have been with these products. Perhaps you know some other alternatives and can help me on my search for a perfect lip tint? Until I find such a product, I'm pretty content to work with Revlon's Just Bitten!

Thanks for reading, please rate, comment, like, follow and subscribe :) It would be a great help!

Love you all

gabriellasofia

Letter From the Editor: Welcome!

*My Moral For The Month...*

Dear Readers,

Finally having arrived back from what was shockingly quite a testing summer working in Walt Disney World, I am now as eager as ever to maintain my blog. My summer was incredible, really, it was.

My days off were some of the best in my life so far, and yet, Working for the Mouse taught me that when I do eventually choose my official career path, I can't just slog through five days a week just because my two days off are good fun. It has to be something which I'm passionate and excited about, something that gets me up and out of bed at the crack of dawn with a smile from ear to ear. While I was going about some menial task like using my 'Disney Point' (a two-finger point as it's apparently more polite) to direct the thousandth guest over to the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular which was clearly sign-posted for all to see, or explaining to a guest that, "Yes, the three o'clock parade is in fact at three o'clock" I remembered the words of Liz Earle and many a wise person before her... 'If you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life.' I wondered to myself if I had ever worked such a job and immediately my work experience at Conde Nast Traveller leapt to mind.

My next few days were spent pining over how much I adored completing even the dullest tasks when working at the magazine; organizing the travel library, handing out the post or scouring the newspapers for the latest in travel news. I started to imagine where I want next for my work experience, or where I wanted to go to study my masters in magazine journalism and how I can work towards that. Of course, the first thing I thought of was by working on my blog. A platform which I can use daily to get my written word out there is invaluable to me and almost as soon as I thought it, I actually wished to myself that I was home, blogging on an almost daily basis.

So that's what I did. I came home. I came home early and terminated my Disney International College Program, changed my flight and three days later I was back on English soil.

With a new academic year comes a new look for my blog. I want this to be almost like an online magazine, a 'blogazine' if you will. Almost daily I will post various stories from fashion pieces, to beauty tutorial videos to relationship features and all that's in between. I have even posted my schedule for the month of September, just like a 'Contents' page so you know what is coming...

But enough of that, hopefully you'll all get used to the new look and can see just how much work I'm going to be putting into this blog from now on, so please tell your friends, get involved, rate, comment, like, follow and subscribe if you can; it would be a great help! :)

The moral of this 'Letter From the Editor' is that life is too short to waste it doing something you don't want to do. Don't get trapped by the financial stability, or the pride of the people around you, or even the ease of the tasks required of you. If you do then you run the risk of spending five sevenths of your life being painfully unhappy and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Don't be afraid to be a quitter if it's really not what you want, and don't be afraid to shoot for something you think is totally out of your comfort zone. Follow your dreams, reach for the stars. You'll thank me one day :P

Love

gabriellasofia

*What's in this month?*

2nd September - Video - Beauty - Tutorial: Sweat-Proof Make-Up

3rd September - Blog - Fashion - My Autumn Musts

4th September - Blog - Health - The Importance of a Balanced Diet and Frequent Exercise

5th September - Blog - Feature - Age Gaps in Relationships

6th September - Video - Beauty - Tutorial: The New Season Look

9th September - Blog - Beauty - Review: Lip Stain Comparison

10th September - Blog - Health - The Number-One Stress Related Syndrome in Young Adults

11th September - Video - Hair - Tutorial: The Re-Birth of the Hair Braid

12th September - Blog - Guest Feature

13th September - Blog - Beauty - Review: Clarins Eclat du Jour Range

16th September - Video - Fashion - A Mid-Month Haul!

17th September - Blog - Feature - Are You A Feminist?

18th September - Blog - Feature - Why Good Customer Service is More Vital Than Ever

19th September - Video - Beauty - Tutorial: A New Spin on the Smoky Eye

20th September - Blog - Beauty - Beauty Without Breaking the Bank

23rd September - Blog - Feature - How the Mouse Stole My Magic...

24th September -

Video - Nails - Tutorial: Disco Ain't Dead

25th September - Blog - Fashion - Who's That Girl?

26th September - Blog - Guest Feature

27th September - Blog - Fashion - How I'm Wearing the New Season's Trends...

30th September - Video - September Faves

Hope you enjoy this month's blog as much as I enjoyed writing it! What are you most excited for?

God bless

gabriellasofia

Review - Maybelline Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner 24H

Despite being so comfortable with my BADgal thick pencil eyeliner from benefit (which retails at www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk for £14 and is totally worth it!) I decided that perhaps it was time for a change. Especially with the summer coming up, I could feel BADgal smudging into my crease-line in the heat of a warmer spring day, which as you can imagine was creating a rather odd panda-like effect which surprisingly enough is not what I was going for at all.

As an avid watcher of YouTube makeup tutorials, I realised that the latest trend in eyeliner seems to be the ‘gel’ formula which appears to have popped up in drugstore and high-end brands everywhere over the past year or so. Whilst watching Glee on 4od, for once I was actually paying attention to the adverts preceding it, one of which was the Maybelline ad featuring Jameela Jamil (TV presenter and columnist at my favourite easy-read magazine, Company). This advert showed a Maybelline makeup artist painting a thin line of Eyestudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner 24H onto the upper lash line of a beautiful model and the finish was so precise, I just knew I had to try this product.

So during my most recent Boots online haul, I made sure to add one to my cart before paying, and I was thoroughly excited for my box of goodies to arrive. Finally, a gut-wrenchingly long three days later, my £80 worth of cosmetics were handed over to me in the post-room of my halls, which resulted in me actually leaping in excitement before running to my room to try this item immediately. I bought the colour Black to keep things simple. Before we get into that, let’s take care of business...

Maybelline’s Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner which retails in at www.boots.co.uk for £7.99 claims to be...

‘• [an] Oil-free formula [which] holds highly concentrated pigments in a clear gel base
• Smudge-proof and waterproof for 24 hours
• [the] Most intense line for lasting drama
• Safe for sensitive eyes and ophthalmologist-tested
• Contact lens safe’

at www.maybelline.com. And I completely agree with the whole claim, which rarely happens.

So, what’s my general opinion? My first thought was, ‘There really isn’t a lot of it...’ The pot isn’t very big at all, then when you look a little closer, the frosted glass is extremely thick, so the product probably only fills half of the volume of the tub anyway. However, this is a product which I am proud to have on my dresser, as it just looks so sleek and sophisticated; it looks expensive (which it should, since £7.99 is not peanuts on a student’s budget!)

The brush which comes with the product impressed me a lot as it seems to be quite good quality! The bristles are very soft, cut perfectly for precise application of the perfect amount of liner, plus the black handle fits perfectly in between my spiky little fingers allowing me to draw it on almost as if it were simply a pencil dispersing an even coating of the formula as I go along.

Now, with the product itself I was generally happy. It’s a very smooth jet black formula, which (with a little practise) can be swept on to professional effect. The practise is vital though, as at first I struggled with just how much I needed on the brush, as I found the finish much nicer if it was completed in one single line, rather than having to dip multiple times with a ‘painting-by-numbers’ method.

The product stayed put, and did not transfer to my crease or brow bone during a warmer day, which was basically why I bought it in the first place! It didn’t crack and dry up like liquid liners do, but also didn’t transfer (even to my pillow after a particularly heavy night, when I didn’t see removing my makeup as an option before falling to sleep) as usually happens with creamier pencil formulas. On the other hand, when I swiped it off another night with a make-up wipe before jumping into bed, it shifted easily making for convenient removal. The brush appears to have held up at this stage, and I expect it and the liner to last for quite a while as I have hardly made a dent in the pot so far! Plus with three other colours due to debut soon, the idea of buying another brand of liner just doesn’t make sense to me... The new colours will be something along the line of a grey-blue colour, a deep purple and a seductive brown, which I am particularly excited about as I think it will be lush for daytime!

Conclusion? I am a gel liner convert! This is perfect for day-to-day use and I honestly think I’m in on a great beauty secret... Feeling hopeful about (and I don’t want to jinx it but...) being onto a potential Holy Grail product! If you haven’t tried it, I promise it is worth the money and the time to get this right. Let me know what you think.

Take care

gabriellasofia